Wednesday, November 19, 2008

According to this article he doesn't know what to think at this point. Gone are the days that he kept the Oilers from handing the Ducks a lottery pick, gone are the days that he single handily won games for the Oilers early in the year while the team in front of him looked lost.

Mathieu Garon came to the team and has been a very good trooper for the Oilers, however he hasn't gotten the "Roli treatment". You know, the treatment that if you've been named the starter and suck you keep getting starts while a superior goalie is winning games?

It could be that Mactavish learned from his mistake last year of going to the outhouse for well water, but IMO that would be giving the coach too much credit. Garon was our best goaltender in the preseason, then he won our first 3 games of the year. Since then he's been cast aside and left for dead.

The coach could be putting new GM Steve Tambellini in a tough spot. Roloson is a near 40 year old goaltender, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers could be looking for a pay raise after next season. If Mathieu Garon has been alienated by the way that he's been treated, Tambellini could be forced to acquire a #1 goaltender while also negotiating deals for a number of RFA's and F Erik Cole.

A player that by all accounts loved Edmonton last year (hell his wife even loved it there!). Garon maybe wishing that he could hop on the next plane out of town and never come back because of the coaching situation.

The city has enough of a false negative aura hovering around it without having a ranting and raving coach that calls out his players in the media and turns to his favorites every chance that he gets while not caring about whose feathers he ruffles. Perhaps if MacT ever became a GM, he'd realize that he wasn't exactly helping his GM's cause with his antics, and I hope that the new GM calls him on it.

7 comments:

So now MacT is a bad coach because he's starting a goalie who is 3-3 with a 2.71 GAA and a .920 SV% and one who is 3-1 with a 2.44 GAA and a .927 SV% over one who is 3-4 with a 3.67 GAA and a .881 SV%?

Presumably if he was playing Garon, this would be a post about how MacT is screwing the team by sticking with his guy no matter how badly he sucks.

In defense of MacT (and I'm not saying he's not made mistakes this year) this is a "no win".

Part is MacT is part searching for the hot hand, part is he's trying to create a market for a trade. I just have to think that while the Oilers say they are not in a hurry to make a trade, that's just public bravado.

They need to make a trade in the worst way because it limits who can/can't be sat because they're also saddled w/Huggy Bear and Bullwinkle on the roster instead of a real option to put pressure on forwards who are not performing. Penner got the public lashing but others could/would have been set if there was a real roster option available.

Marc-Garon hasn't had an opportunity to rebound. MacT threw him in against Pittsburgh and they beat the tar out of the Oilers. No matter who was in net on that night to start the game, they would've been shelled. 1 bad game early in the year where you get pulled can really drop your save % to substandard levels. I'm sure minus the Pittsburgh game is stats would be respectable.

MacT is putting the Oilers in a situation where they will be forced to acquire another goaltender because Garon doesn't feel that he is getting the respect he deserves or a legit chance to reclaim his #1 spot.

IMO Roli has done enough to make himself a tradeable assest again. However at what cost? Will we keep him on board for another year or 2 and potentially have a replay of last season?

This should be Roli's last season here, and if it isn't, he should be here as the #2 goalie or as part of a relatively even split tandem with Deslauruers.

Two excellent points - Garon's gonna steal us games (not Roli at this point).

Also, I think you are bang on that we're going to need another goalie now next year. You can't entrust it to JDD and DD and I don't think Garon comes back unless there is major kiss-up or a change at the coach.

I'm just saying you can't lay it all at MacT's feet.

We'll really see how good a GM Tambo is if he can unravel this one and the logjam of forwards. A trade just has to be coming and I hope it's sooner than later.

If we go into next season with JDD and Dubnyk in net, may God help us all! I'm fine with JDD, but Dubnyk has to be playing like how he has been the last 3 games for a long stretch before it's even a remote possibility.

I hope that Garon and MacT can let bygones be bygones, but we are probably looking at having to acquire a goaltender by the start of next year.